Colorful Peruvian crafts

Week 6 – In Peru we loved the mountains, the cities, the gastronomy, the ruins and… the craft! Please enjoy this very small example of their traditional weaving. This one comes from the village of Chinchero which is a “must-stop” for all tours in the Sacred Valley near Cusco.

Each community has its own design depending on the nature that is surrounding them. Let’s get poetic: I will try to describe the patterns of this blanket. In the middle column, we can see a black curved line which is the representation of a tool used for agriculture. The pink sides of the diamond are representing the mountains and the pink round-ich patterns are the 2 lagoons of Chinchero. At the base of each triangle, we can see the eyes of the cougar. The cougar is the symbol of “our World”, opposed to the underworld (world of death represented by the snake) and the upperworld (world of the gods, represented by the condor).

The side columns would represent cactus. The edges of the blanket are woven which is a speciality of Chinchero. The diamonds are nawi (eyes) protecting physically and spiritually the ouvrage.

I found these two blogs which are very interesting sources of information about the traditional Peruvian patterns:

http://cottonandtravel.com/en/meaning-of-the-patterns-in-a-traditional-peruvian-clothing-behind-the-inca-civilisation/

http://blog.peruvianconnection.com/uncategorized/ancient-textile-traditions-of-chinchero/